System Reboot Issue

My 2-yr-old system includes the following:

Athlon XP 1800+
GigaByte GA-7VRXP mobo
512MB Crucial PC2700 DDR
64 MB VisionTek GeForce 3 Ti500
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
80 GB Western Digital HDD
Dual Boot: Red Hat 9/WinXP Home

I only list so many parts because I'm trying to figure out which might
be the problem. The system has rebooted without warning maybe once
every few months until about the last month when it has become
increasingly frequent. Finally this week it reboots every time WinXP
loads...a couple of programs load - Norton Antivirus, my Palm HotSync
manager, OpenOffice.org quickstarter, and then it goes down - without
fail.

My virus definitions are up-to-date, but I tried running a Sasser worm
removal tool from Symantec just in case (no virus found). Symantec
recommended a full system scan in safe mode, but the scan quit part
way through, citing a "critical error".

Suspicious now, I booted into Red Hat, since then the problem should
go away if it is virus-caused. It worked well for a while, but then
it started dropping processes on me. I might have 4 applications
open, then all of a sudden one would just die - disappear, not even
hang. Apps that never hang started freezing up. Finally it kicked me
back out to a login prompt a couple of times.

I checked the BIOS hardware monitor and I'm idling at about 56°C.
Seemed a little high, from what I could tell reading newsgroups and
such, but not extremely high. Anyway, I tested it out a few times -
from a cold start I read 43°, and one time I attempted to boot into
WinXP twice in a row then checked the temp again: 62°! Now I'm
concerned. I've got a loud 6800 rpm Cooler Master HSF on there
(HCF-2, I think), and I don't overclock in any way, so it ought to be
fine (it's still running at full speed). I've never heard of thermal
paster burning up and having to be replaced, but I've got some Arctic
Silver ceramique coming just in case. However, since it will reboot
when it hits Windows even from a cold start, I have to suspect it's
not just a temperature thing.

Anybody have experience with this problem? One friend suggested that
mobo's are often the source of electrical probs, and that I oughta
pick up a cheap replacement in order to test that hypothesis (I found
a nice refurbished Asus for $36). Am I doing damage to the processor
by running the machine in this state? Does it need to be replaced?

One last note about the mobo: I knocked off a small chip thing with a
screwdriver when I installed it in the case two years ago, but a
qualified buddy soldered it back on. Since this same buddy thought it
might have been a diode or some part of the power control circuitry,
it makes me wonder if I've been running on a compromised board all
this time and this problem has been just waiting to happen.

I've never posted one this long before, sorry ya'll.
Thanks for any suggestions.

On the surface, definatley sounds like a hardware issue. You can pretty much
narrow it down to motherboard, memory, or hard drive. I have seen bad spots
on hard drives but to be honest with you, with what you described, doesn't
sound like a hard drive issue. If I were you I would try replacing memory
and if that doesn't fix it...then go motherboard. (This way, if it is the
motheboard...you'll have a gig of RAM!).
As for you knocking something off when you installed it...if that were
causing a problem then it would be more predictable and constant...not as
progressive as you've described. I would also like to know if your getting
any windows errors...or is it just rebooting.

not to mumble...but the more I think about it the more I am leaning towards
a memory problem.

Wes Owsley
Systems Engineer / Consultant.






"Trevor" wrote in message
om...
My 2-yr-old system includes the following:

Athlon XP 1800+
GigaByte GA-7VRXP mobo
512MB Crucial PC2700 DDR
64 MB VisionTek GeForce 3 Ti500
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
80 GB Western Digital HDD
Dual Boot: Red Hat 9/WinXP Home

I only list so many parts because I'm trying to figure out which might
be the problem. The system has rebooted without warning maybe once
every few months until about the last month when it has become
increasingly frequent. Finally this week it reboots every time WinXP
loads...a couple of programs load - Norton Antivirus, my Palm HotSync
manager, OpenOffice.org quickstarter, and then it goes down - without
fail.

My virus definitions are up-to-date, but I tried running a Sasser worm
removal tool from Symantec just in case (no virus found). Symantec
recommended a full system scan in safe mode, but the scan quit part
way through, citing a "critical error".

Suspicious now, I booted into Red Hat, since then the problem should
go away if it is virus-caused. It worked well for a while, but then
it started dropping processes on me. I might have 4 applications
open, then all of a sudden one would just die - disappear, not even
hang. Apps that never hang started freezing up. Finally it kicked me
back out to a login prompt a couple of times.

I checked the BIOS hardware monitor and I'm idling at about 56°C.
Seemed a little high, from what I could tell reading newsgroups and
such, but not extremely high. Anyway, I tested it out a few times -
from a cold start I read 43°, and one time I attempted to boot into
WinXP twice in a row then checked the temp again: 62°! Now I'm
concerned. I've got a loud 6800 rpm Cooler Master HSF on there
(HCF-2, I think), and I don't overclock in any way, so it ought to be
fine (it's still running at full speed). I've never heard of thermal
paster burning up and having to be replaced, but I've got some Arctic
Silver ceramique coming just in case. However, since it will reboot
when it hits Windows even from a cold start, I have to suspect it's
not just a temperature thing.

Anybody have experience with this problem? One friend suggested that
mobo's are often the source of electrical probs, and that I oughta
pick up a cheap replacement in order to test that hypothesis (I found
a nice refurbished Asus for $36). Am I doing damage to the processor
by running the machine in this state? Does it need to be replaced?

One last note about the mobo: I knocked off a small chip thing with a
screwdriver when I installed it in the case two years ago, but a
qualified buddy soldered it back on. Since this same buddy thought it
might have been a diode or some part of the power control circuitry,
it makes me wonder if I've been running on a compromised board all
this time and this problem has been just waiting to happen.

I've never posted one this long before, sorry ya'll.
Thanks for any suggestions.

"Wes Owsley" wrote in message ...

progressive as you've described. I would also like to know if your getting
any windows errors...or is it just rebooting.


I do not get any Windows errors prior to the reboots.
Several programs that load on startup have had configuration data
screwed up, but I presume that's due to the sudden reboots while
they're loading. Also, I failed to mention that the machine reboots
even when I'm in Safe Mode, although I can actually work in Safe Mode
for a while (likewise Linux - I burned a cd in there this morning). I
get the feeling the OS has to try to do something in particular to
trigger the reboots, and that something doesn't happen in Safe Mode or
Linux except under certain conditions.

Thanks for the advice.

(Trevor) wrote in message . com...
My 2-yr-old system includes the following:

Athlon XP 1800+
GigaByte GA-7VRXP mobo
512MB Crucial PC2700 DDR
64 MB VisionTek GeForce 3 Ti500
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
80 GB Western Digital HDD
Dual Boot: Red Hat 9/WinXP Home

I only list so many parts because I'm trying to figure out which might
be the problem. The system has rebooted without warning maybe once
every few months until about the last month when it has become
increasingly frequent. Finally this week it reboots every time WinXP
loads...a couple of programs load - Norton Antivirus, my Palm HotSync
manager, OpenOffice.org quickstarter, and then it goes down - without
fail.

My virus definitions are up-to-date, but I tried running a Sasser worm
removal tool from Symantec just in case (no virus found). Symantec
recommended a full system scan in safe mode, but the scan quit part
way through, citing a "critical error".

Suspicious now, I booted into Red Hat, since then the problem should
go away if it is virus-caused. It worked well for a while, but then
it started dropping processes on me. I might have 4 applications
open, then all of a sudden one would just die - disappear, not even
hang. Apps that never hang started freezing up. Finally it kicked me
back out to a login prompt a couple of times.

I checked the BIOS hardware monitor and I'm idling at about 56°C.
Seemed a little high, from what I could tell reading newsgroups and
such, but not extremely high. Anyway, I tested it out a few times -
from a cold start I read 43°, and one time I attempted to boot into
WinXP twice in a row then checked the temp again: 62°! Now I'm
concerned. I've got a loud 6800 rpm Cooler Master HSF on there
(HCF-2, I think), and I don't overclock in any way, so it ought to be
fine (it's still running at full speed). I've never heard of thermal
paster burning up and having to be replaced, but I've got some Arctic
Silver ceramique coming just in case. However, since it will reboot
when it hits Windows even from a cold start, I have to suspect it's
not just a temperature thing.

Anybody have experience with this problem? One friend suggested that
mobo's are often the source of electrical probs, and that I oughta
pick up a cheap replacement in order to test that hypothesis (I found
a nice refurbished Asus for $36). Am I doing damage to the processor
by running the machine in this state? Does it need to be replaced?

One last note about the mobo: I knocked off a small chip thing with a
screwdriver when I installed it in the case two years ago, but a
qualified buddy soldered it back on. Since this same buddy thought it
might have been a diode or some part of the power control circuitry,
it makes me wonder if I've been running on a compromised board all
this time and this problem has been just waiting to happen.

I've never posted one this long before, sorry ya'll.
Thanks for any suggestions.
You may also check your Power Supply with a voltage meter. Make sure
you don't have to many items plugged into the wall socket etc.

Hi

I'd say your problems seem to be from RAM that has gradually gone bad.
Another thing to try is to inspect the motherboard (especially the
capacitors) and examine their condition. If there is any signs of
leakage or damage that could be the cause. However I'd say RAM is the
more likely reason.
- Tom

(Trevor) wrote in message . com...
My 2-yr-old system includes the following:

Athlon XP 1800+
GigaByte GA-7VRXP mobo
512MB Crucial PC2700 DDR
64 MB VisionTek GeForce 3 Ti500
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
80 GB Western Digital HDD
Dual Boot: Red Hat 9/WinXP Home

I only list so many parts because I'm trying to figure out which might
be the problem. The system has rebooted without warning maybe once
every few months until about the last month when it has become
increasingly frequent. Finally this week it reboots every time WinXP
loads...a couple of programs load - Norton Antivirus, my Palm HotSync
manager, OpenOffice.org quickstarter, and then it goes down - without
fail.

My virus definitions are up-to-date, but I tried running a Sasser worm
removal tool from Symantec just in case (no virus found). Symantec
recommended a full system scan in safe mode, but the scan quit part
way through, citing a "critical error".

Suspicious now, I booted into Red Hat, since then the problem should
go away if it is virus-caused. It worked well for a while, but then
it started dropping processes on me. I might have 4 applications
open, then all of a sudden one would just die - disappear, not even
hang. Apps that never hang started freezing up. Finally it kicked me
back out to a login prompt a couple of times.

I checked the BIOS hardware monitor and I'm idling at about 56°C.
Seemed a little high, from what I could tell reading newsgroups and
such, but not extremely high. Anyway, I tested it out a few times -
from a cold start I read 43°, and one time I attempted to boot into
WinXP twice in a row then checked the temp again: 62°! Now I'm
concerned. I've got a loud 6800 rpm Cooler Master HSF on there
(HCF-2, I think), and I don't overclock in any way, so it ought to be
fine (it's still running at full speed). I've never heard of thermal
paster burning up and having to be replaced, but I've got some Arctic
Silver ceramique coming just in case. However, since it will reboot
when it hits Windows even from a cold start, I have to suspect it's
not just a temperature thing.

Anybody have experience with this problem? One friend suggested that
mobo's are often the source of electrical probs, and that I oughta
pick up a cheap replacement in order to test that hypothesis (I found
a nice refurbished Asus for $36). Am I doing damage to the processor
by running the machine in this state? Does it need to be replaced?

One last note about the mobo: I knocked off a small chip thing with a
screwdriver when I installed it in the case two years ago, but a
qualified buddy soldered it back on. Since this same buddy thought it
might have been a diode or some part of the power control circuitry,
it makes me wonder if I've been running on a compromised board all
this time and this problem has been just waiting to happen.

I've never posted one this long before, sorry ya'll.
Thanks for any suggestions.

Thanks, Tom.

I'm a little confounded that the Crucial RAM I bought direct from
Crucial only 2 years ago should be going bad...

I just wish ya'll were telling me to replace the motherboard ($36)
instead of the RAM ($102). Maybe I'll try the mobo first anyway, and
then if it's the RAM I'll have the beginning of a new system for a
friend...

....I'm going to call about Crucial's lifetime warranty. If I can
convince them it's the RAM I might get it replaced for just the cost
of the RMA shipping. Or better yet, I live 15 minutes away from their
headquarters... ;-)

Here's an interesting twist:

Crucial.com customer service recommended a RAM test program called
Docmemory, perhaps you're familiar with this? Anyway, I ran it's
"Burn-in" program tonight that cycles until you stop it...well, I fell
asleep with it on...when I awoke, my RAM had passed all the tests 21
times.

Time to think about replacing the mobo, methinks.